TODD G. HIGDON: Looking forward to class reunion

Thursday

Oct 10, 2013 at 12:31 AM

The month of October is turning into being a busy month for events around the area.

The month of October is turning into being a busy month for events around the area.

Of course last weekend, we had two festivals: Neosho Fall Festival, which was on Saturday, and then Barnyard Days for a three-day event (last Friday through Sunday). Even though it rained on Saturday, I do believe that organizers said the crowds were great.

Another event that I personally covered on that Saturday, was the 60th reunion of the Neosho High School class of 1953. Talking to the classmates and hearing their stories about their high school days and even how Neosho was back then was a great treat for me.

Coming up this weekend will be a personal treat for me, it will be my dad's 50th class reunion. He graduated from NHS back in 1963. Mom also graduated in this year from Midway School (located between Newtonia and Stark City). I will be attending some of the reunion, gathering stories from the classmates, looking at photographs from that era and seeing some of dad's friends. A few months back, I ran across a Facebook page devoted to the NHS Class of 1963. I joined the group and found some photographs of dad on there. They eventually even posted a homemade video of the class on their last days at the high school. At one point, I did see dad in the video.

I enjoy these class reunions, I remember even as a young child, we would go to the reunions on Sunday, which was the time for the families to come about. For dad's reunion one year, we had it at Big Spring Park. They did a cookout of hamburgers and hot dogs, along with side dishes and then played games including throwing the Frisbee.

Thinking about these reunions, brings me to another point. Next year will be my 25th class reunion. I am looking forward to seeing my classmates, touring the high school and looking at old photographs. The last time that we had a reunion was our 10th year. At that time, a lot of us were just starting out in our careers after either going to college or the military and starting families.

That reunion was a three-day event, where we registered at East Newton High School on a Friday night, toured the school and then classmates could go out to eat that evening with groups. Saturday night, we all met in Joplin at Kitchen Pass banquet room for dinner. Sunday of course was a picnic at Morse Park with the families. It was good times and I hope and pray that next year, we have a great turnout.

Todd G. Higdon is a staff writer and writes a weekly column for the Neosho Daily News. He can be reached at tghigdon@neoshodailynews.com. Follow him on twitter at @toddghigdonNDN